Yucca

Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of... more

by Jon Burch Photography

Title

Yucca

Artist

Jon Burch Photography

Medium

Photograph - Digital Capture

Description

Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Early reports of the species were confused with the cassava. Because of this, Linnaeus mistakenly derived the generic name from the Ta'no word for the latter, yuca. It is also colloquially known in the lower Midwest United States as "ghosts in the graveyard", as it is commonly found growing in rural graveyards and when in bloom the cluster of pale flowers on a thin stalk appear as floating apparitions.

The natural distribution range of the genus Yucca covers a vast area of North and Central America. From Baja California in the west, northwards into the southwestern United States, through the drier central states as far north as Alberta in Canada. Yucca is also native to the lowlands and dry beach scrub of the Gulf and South Atlantic states from coastal Texas to easternmost Virginia. To the south, the genus is represented throughout Mexico and extends into Guatemala. Yuccas have adapted to an equally vast range of climatic and ecological conditions and are found in rocky deserts and badlands, in prairies and grassland, in mountainous regions, in light woodland, in coastal sands, and even in subtropical and semi-temperate zones, although these are generally arid to semiarid.

This specimen was located in Loveland, Colorado.

Image copyright 2014 Jon Burch Photography

Uploaded

June 10th, 2014